F'ing BP credit card surcharge

[scracha]

Credit card 'interchange fees' are up to 2% for the trading banks, but from memory Amex and Diners are considerably higher which is why hardly anyone accepts them anymore.

Retailers are not banks. Low volume, low value transactions are as much as 6% for Visa / Mastercard. Average is about 2.8% for moi but the big boys get a better discount.

Don't blame BP, blame the greedy New Zealand banks. Put it another way, credit card users are being subsidised by non credit card users. BP should drop it's price per liter accordingly if they're doing the surcharge though.

EFTPOS, I dunno. It was MORE expensive when I first set up the merchant account.

[Gremlin]

EFTPOS ftw?

Except that some banks (and the accounts) charge for each EFTPOS transaction. The company account from ASB is charged on each transaction, my personal ASB account is not. Credit Cards, until now, didn't have any of those extra charges. Also, if you spend enough on the card, the higher up the range of cards you go (eg, gold etc) you start getting the extra benefits, like free travel insurance if you use the credit card to book travel etc etc etc not to mention the normal cash back rewards or points.

I noticed a couple of weeks ago, Caltex Thames was showing a 50c surcharge for credit card transactions... which I didn't get charged either time

[cs363]

Retailers are not banks. Low volume, low value transactions are as much as 6% for Visa / Mastercard. Average is about 2.8% for moi but the big boys get a better discount.

Don't blame BP, blame the greedy New Zealand banks. Put it another way, credit card users are being subsidised by non credit card users. BP should drop it's price per liter accordingly if they're doing the surcharge though.

EFTPOS, I dunno. It was MORE expensive when I first set up the merchant account.

Got to admit I thought it was more like the amount you quote but that's not what the gummint and others are saying: http://www.comcom.govt.nz/MediaCentr...ingincred.aspx
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/pers...edit-card-fees http://www.mastercard.com/nz/merchan...ees/index.html http://www.visa-asia.com/ap/nz/media...erchange.shtml
Whatever.....still agree we have some of the greediest banks in the world....

[p.dath]

I've been boycotting Shell for a couple years since they wouldn't sell me a sandwich because I had my helmet on. The local BP was the only BP that didn't tell me I had to get off the bike to fill it up. Then one day the guy who had served me loads of times before pointed out the sign saying no straddling the bike so they are off the list as well. My only choice now is Mobil. If they piss me off I am really going to be in the shit.

Better start learning how to brew your own alcohol. Sounds like the bike is going to need a lot of it.

[Genie]

what is a new zealand...most are foreign owned!

[nico]

i work for bp and there bastards, they screw every one quicker than a flash inc employees the list of perkes and benifits is geting shorter every year

[Woodman]

I don't understand the problem.
The gas stations get charged by the banks so they are passing it on to the end users. Seems fair to me. If you don't like it use another method of payment

[Robert Taylor]

Haven't confirmed it myself but my brother just rang me to say that BP just charged him an extra 1.9% to pay by credit card. I know that it was recently made legal to do but man, why is it always BP that leads the charge to rip the motorist off??!!
Funny that BP and AA are in bed with each other too

Well if they are charging more I hope it goes into the BP retailers pockets than the oil company themselves. Retail margins on petrol are wafer thin and I wouldnt begrudge for a moment extra margin for those guys.
Just read a random selection of ''off the street'' comments in this mornings Taranaki Daily News and the common over simplistic and knee jerk theme is that many or most people in the street think that if retailers apply a surcharge if credit cards are used then they are ''ripping people off'' Point of fact the merchant cost to businesses of credit card usage are quite substanial, especially for small users. Many retailers are operating on VERY tight margins due to a whole myriad of pressures and I can understand why they would wish to recover the cost to them of credit card transactions.
Whos ripping who?

[davereid]

People don't seem to have a problem paying to have a credit card, or paying 20%+ to use its credit facility, yet they seem horrified that the poor old merchant should try and re-coup his costs.

This may well result in a drop off in credit card usage, which will result in the banks dropping merchant fees.

We may all end up better off !

[duckonin]

Other method of payment Cash, put in ten bucks worth, flick ten over the counter, outa there...

[vifferman]

People don't seem to have a problem paying to have a credit card, or paying 20%+ to use its credit facility, yet they seem horrified that the poor old merchant should try and re-coup his costs.

This may well result in a drop off in credit card usage, which will result in the banks dropping merchant fees.

We may all end up better off !

Good points, Dave.
However, if you think our largely foreign-owned banks are going to drop fees, I think you're being overly optimistic. They've shown time and time again that there's no real comptetition, and that they have an almost remarkable propensity to rip us off.

It's fair enough that the merchants pass on their costs - they are in a business to make a living after all. If they don't pass on the fees directly, they'll do it in other ways, like increased prices for goods and services.

[sunhuntin]

i work for bp and there bastards, they screw every one quicker than a flash inc employees the list of perkes and benifits is geting shorter every year

you have perks? hell, we didnt have any when i worked there, except on sunday the milkman would give me the due to expire primo milks. lol. we werent even allowed to take home the rock hard pies or the old sandwiches etc for the dogs... stupid. such a waste.

[Ixion]

Doesn't really bother me, I just pay cash if needed. So long as there's a BIG notice. Credit card is not lawful tender, retailer is not obliged to accept it, and if he does may do so on such conditions as he sees fit. One needs to factor th eloss of average 20 days credit into the cost equation, but that's normally only a few cents on a bike-size fuel fill.

[PrincessBandit]

I heard only Wellington mentioned in the news article re the surcharge on credit card use, but betcha it'll soon blanket the country. Petrol stations were blaming banks for it, banks were saying "no, we've not put up our fees, but legislation has made it possible now for retailers to recoup some of their costs via this so some are now going to do so".

We've generally paid for gas with credit card due to the immediate cost - e.g. $80 on the credit card which can be repaid at your convenience means $80 still in your cheque account for other things, but from now on we might just suck in our belts and buy petrol only when money is sitting there in our bank account. Probably a good way to go with most of life's monetary transactions wherever possible.

Just out of curiosity how many of us can remember life prior to credit cards? How did we cope back then! lol

[Quasievil]

What a bunch of whinging fuckers, here is an idea dont buy petrol..................or set up your own multi billion dollar oil rig and processing plants and refinerys and shipping and storage networks, do that.........now go and find some oil to work, pay the licensing fees and back handers to the governments........once you done that go and set up a distribution network and your good to go !!

There is no money in retail petrol so if you dont like the credit card fee dont pay with your credit card, pay eftpos or cash.